| | | | What's news: Roy Wood Jr. will host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. NBC's The Blacklist will end with season 10. Ellie Bamber will star as Kate Moss in biopic Moss & Freud. HBO Max has canceled Pennyworth. Fox renews The Cleaning Lady. — Abid Rahman |
Netflix to Feature GM EVs In Shows and Movies ►Volte-face. Netflix and General Motors are forming what they call a “strategic alliance” that will see GM EVs featured or incorporated into a variety of Netflix original TV series and movies. The streamer says that the upcoming seasons of Love Is Blind and Queer Eye will feature GM EVs (the Chevy Bolt EUV and Hummer EV, respectively), as will the upcoming Rob Lowe comedy Unstable, which will feature the Cadillac Lyriq. The story.
—"He’s hilarious — but also makes sure his audiences are thinking as they laugh." The Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. will be the entertainer for the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This year’s event is set to be held at the Washington Hilton on April 29. The story.
—Now we're talking. James Mangold is in early talks to be one of the first writer-directors to join James Gunn and Peter Safran’s roster of filmmakers at DC Studios. Mangold, who has Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hitting theaters in May, is in discussions with Gunn and Safran to take on the feature adaptation of Swamp Thing, the supernatural horror-based hero who is a focal point in the first chapter of DC Studios’ slate. The story.
—The end, finally. NBC confirmed that the forthcoming 10th season of The Blacklist will be the show’s last. The final season of the James Spader-led drama is set to premiere Feb. 26. Speculation that the series was nearing the end has swirled for a couple of years, particularly since original co-lead, Megan Boone, and creator and co-showrunner Jon Bokenkamp left at the end of season eight. The story.
—Rising star. Birthday girl Ellie Bamber, recently seen in Willow and The Serpent, is set to play supermodel Kate Moss in upcoming biopic Moss & Freud. The film comes from writer/director James Lucas and dramatizes the period in 2002 when Moss, at the peak of her fame (and then heavily pregnant), chose to sit nude for famed British artist Lucian Freud. The story. |
The CW Hires Perhaps Its Most Important Exec ►"Heather is an industry dynamo." The CW has hired a head of unscripted programming — a position that could shape much of the network’s programming under new owner Nexstar. Heather Olander will fill the newly created position at the broadcast network, reporting to Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment. Olander’s hiring is a key one for The CW, whose new majority owners have pledged to turn a profit by 2025 and are looking to shift the network towards more unscripted programming. The story.
—Uh-oh. Ticketmaster is back in the spotlight, as tickets for Beyoncé’s upcoming Renaissance tour go on sale on the platform in the coming days. THR's Caitlin Huston writes that the release of Renaissance tickets will be a big test for the ticketing giant, following the long wait times and technical glitches the site experienced during the presales for Taylor Swift’s tour in November. The story.
—Clearing the decks. HBO Max has canceled Pennyworth, the prequel show about Batman’s famed butler. The series wrapped its third and now final season Nov. 24. As part of a wider strategy shift, the streamer is clearing out all of its live-action DC Comics scripted original series. Pennyworth hailed from Warner Bros. Television and was developed for the MGM-backed premium cable network Epix (which is now known as MGM+). The story.
—Hedging. Fox has renewed its drama series The Cleaning Lady for a third season. The pickup for the series, produced by Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment, comes seven weeks after the show wrapped its 12-episode second season. Season three will also see Jeannine Renshaw come on board as co-showrunner alongside Miranda Kwok, who developed the show. The early renewal could also serve as a hedge against a possible strike by writers, actors or directors in the coming months. The story.
—Reunited. Emmy-winning Orange Is the New Black alum Uzo Aduba has been tapped to star in Netflix's The Residence, the murder-mystery show from Shondaland duo Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers. The show was ordered straight to series in March, and uses Kate Andersen Brower’s book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, as a jumping-off point to tell a new murder-mystery story. The story. |
Monterey Park's Legacy Should Be Cultural Empowerment, Not Tragedy ►"I urge you to seek out positive stories from this city’s history." In a guest column for THR, filmmaker and author Philip Wang, a longtime resident of Monterey Park, pens a love letter to the Southern California ethnoburb, an incubator of Asian American talent and the latest U.S. city to bear witness to a mass shooting. The column.
—"This is a series about accountability." A lawsuit brought by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting victims against a gun manufacturer will be the subject of a limited series project. Echo Lake Entertainment is producing the project from Robin Swicord (When They See Us), Sarah Koskoff (Hello I Must Be Going) and Echo Lake’s Mary Jane Skalski, with consultation from several families involved in the suit. The story.
—Yet another FTX project. THR's Mia Galuppo has the scoop on Fortune and Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas planning a doc focused on the relationship between embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, one of Bankman-Fried’s most vocal critics. Zhao has agreed to participate in the project, along with other key Binance executives, as well as executives from FTX and other major crypto companies. The story.
—"His honesty and vulnerability are a perfect fit for this original format." Comedian and Golden Globes host Jerrod Carmichael will star in and exec produce a “comedy documentary series” following his personal life. The show’s description brings to mind the low-key vibe of HBO’s How To With John Wilson and will follow Carmichael "through encounters with friends, family, and strangers, all in his quest for love, sex, and connection." The currently untitled series will be directed by Ari Katcher. The story.
—Arrested. James Gorden Meek, a former investigative producer and journalist for ABC News, has been arrested and charged on suspicion of transportation of child pornography. The DOJ announced the 53-year-old was taken into custody Tuesday night. If convicted, Meek will receive a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20. Meek, who had worked on ABC’s Nightline and 20/20 was an Emmy-nominated journalist that had most recently worked on Hulu's doc 3212 Un-Redacted. The story. |
Why 'RRR' Missed Out on an International Oscar Nom ►A missed opportunity. S.S. Rajamouli's period epic RRR has become something of an international phenomenon, with the film winning a host of global awards and scoring an original song Oscar nomination for "Naatu Naatu." But fans have been left wondering why RRR isn't also competing in the best international feature category. THR's executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg explains why India entered Pan Nalin’s Last Film Show for the Academy Awards and why such decisions are not uncommon. The analysis.
—"We’re all imperfect, and we’re all human, and let’s just be kind to each other." Almost a year after the infamous slap incident at the Academy Awards, Serena Williams has publicly expressed her feelings on the altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock. In a CBS Mornings interview, the tennis legend shared her thoughts on why the incident happened. The story.
—No Spider-Man or Venom, innit. Sony Pictures’ operating income for Q3 ending December fell to $179m, down 86 percent from $1.31b in the same period the previous year, hit by the lack of major theatrical hits and lower revenue from television licensing. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile was the Sony unit’s biggest earner with $96m, followed by Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, both logging $25m. The results.
—"I will remain in this state until perhaps my lifeless body is freed from prison." Jailed Iranian film director Jafar Panahi has begun a hunger strike in prison. The filmmaker’s wife, Tahereh Saeidi, announced the protest action on her Instagram page. In a statement issued from his prison cell and sent to THR by the director’s publicist, who translated the message, Panahi recounted his recent imprisonment by Iran’s judiciary to complete a six-year prison sentence imposed over a decade ago. The story.
—R.I.P. again. Gawker is shutting down for a second time, editor-in-chief Leah Finnegan confirmed on Twitter. After first shutting down following a lawsuit from wrestler Hulk Hogan, the pop culture website was acquired by Bustle Digital Group CEO Bryan Goldberg in the summer of 2018 for $1.35m and relaunched it in July 2021. After a spree of acquisitions, including Mic, Elite Daily, Nylon and W, BDG is paring down its bets. Gawker's re-shuttering arrives after BDG closed down tech site Input last September. The story. |
Film Review: 'Knock at the Cabin' ►"Doom and doomer." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin. Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge star as a couple whose family vacation is interrupted by prophesiers of imminent doom, led by gentle giant Dave Bautista. The review.
—"A likable expansion of the On My Block universe." THR's Angie Han reviews Netflix's Freeridge. Two squabbling teenage sisters (Keyla Monterroso Mejia and Bryana Salaz) and their friends (Tenzing Norgay Trainor and Ciara Riley Wilson) try to undo a curse in the On My Block spinoff. The review.
—"Models how to confront history and complicated legacies." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Milisuthando Bongela's Milisuthando. The filmmaker reexamines her childhood in apartheid South Africa in a documentary that doubles as a lyrical memoir. The review.
In other news...
—Moving On trailer shows Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin taking revenge to new levels
—Outer Banks: S3 trailer teases violence and surprising romance amid new treasure hunt
—Pedro Pascal can’t kill a Last of Us clicker in SNL promo
—TV premiere dates 2023: The complete guide
—Jill Biden, Viola Davis, Dwayne Johnson among Grammy Awards presenters
—WBD names Rebecca Rormark head of streaming marketing for EMEA
—Jennifer Lopez lists Bel-Air mansion for $42.5m complete with outdoor amphitheater
What else we're reading...
—A fantastic Reeves Wiedeman story on the state of the documentary scene, and the tension between the need to be commercial and the need to tell a true story [Vulture]
—Mujib Mashal reports that Shah Rukh Khan's star power has overcome India's right wing, with his new film Pathaan smashing records and becoming a much-needed boost for Hindi cinema [NYT]
—Sophie Alexander reports that Sean Penn’s disaster-relief charity CORE has been rocked by allegations of financial mismanagement and sexual harassment [Bloomberg]
—Rebecca Schuman looks into why Germans hate nine-time Oscar nominated film All Quiet on the Western Front [Slate]
—Kyle Buchanan interviews the immensely talented Kerry Condon, who reveals she channeled grief from her dog’s death into her Oscar-nominated performance in The Banshees of Inisherin [NYT]
Today...
Today's birthdays: Shakira (46), Paul Mescal (27), Laura Poitras (59), Ellie Bamber (26), Gemma Arterton (37), Julia Fox (33), Brent Spiner (74), Zosia Mamet (35), Emily Rose (42), Rich Sommer (45), Oz Perkins (49), Alex Sharp (34), David Jason (83), Blake Clark (77), Barbara Sukowa (73), Christie Brinkley (69), Jennifer Westfeldt (53), Jenny Lumet (56), Emelina Adams (31), Amelia Eve (31), Marissa Jaret Winokur (50), Salvatore Esposito (37), Kim Zimmer (68) |
| Charlie Walker, a San Francisco business owner and social justice icon who was portrayed by Mike Colter in the 2022 biopic I’m Charlie Walker, died Thursday in his hometown, it was announced. He was 89. The obituary. |
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